Trzcinski Tosses No-Hitter En Route to 9-0 Princeton Rout

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Freshman Stephanie Trzcinski matched a career-high eight strikeouts and tossed her first career no-hitter to lead the Cal softball team to a 9-0 rout of Princeton in six innings Sunday at the Marriott Round Robin in Santa Clara, Calif. On top of Trzcinski's no-no, it was a day of many firsts for the Golden Bears as Cal posted its first shutout of an opponent in 2014 and freshman Alleah Laxamana and sophomore Jasmin Mejia hit their first collegiate home runs.

Aside from her eight strikeouts, Trzcisnki (4-3) gave up only two free bases to earn her fourth win. Her Princeton counterparts allowed 14 hits and two walks with five strikeouts, with most of the work coming from Shanna Christian (2-6) while Claire Klausner pitched the final out.

Laxamana went 1-for-3 with a run and two RBI and Mejia went 1-for-4 with a run and two RBI of her own. Freshman Kylie Reed was a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs scored.

Cal made it clear from the start that the Bears made business as the top of the order hit three consecutive singles to start a scoring streak. Leadoff batter and junior Cheyenne Cordes and Reed notched back-to-back infield singles to get on base, then junior Danielle Henderson sent a ball up the middle to score Cordes.

Sophomore Breana Kostreba stepped up and blasted a double to right center to clear Reed and Henderson off the diamond, and the Bears staked a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Trzcinski pitched a trio of three up, three down innings in two, three and four, and by the time the top of the fifth inning rolled around, Cal was ready for another streak. Senior Ashley Decker led off with a single to left field and then stole second before Laxamana hit her first collegiate home run to dead center.

Senior Victoria Jones echoed Laxamana's long ball to the same spot at the top of the sixth with Reed already on base from a single through the left side.

Two batters later, after Kostreba got on base with a single to center field, Mejia also hit the sweet spot and put the Bears up 9-0.

Though Princeton drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the sixth, two batters went chasing the ball and Trzcinski sent them back to the dugout. A fielder's choice ended the inning and the Bears handed the Tigers the goose egg. Cal improves to 17-11 with a seven-game win streak.